UVI Falcon - v4 = 2026 released - rumors, ads, praise, kindergarden, auto-sampling and off-topic inside!

[ceasless]

So, i used the voucher and put a few bucks on top and got the FX sound library. Imported into Falcon...
WTF! Awesome!!
The kind of sci-fi-alien-invasion-rythmic-world´s end stuff you can create then! I love it!
The big bummer is only i would like to load those samples easy and fast into the multi-granular OSC f.e.
without those annoying workarounds.

Yes! I'll be a lot more keen on buying more UVI libraries if they act as much as expansions to Falcon as standalone instruments. It's already pretty powerful to 'load as layers' a preset, but it would be so very awesome to be able to browse all the sound files individually, maybe even a "layer library", though that could end up being a lot of work as I'm not sure layers were carefully named across the product line.

I hope we can see this in 1.x

[wagtunes]

WT creation is odd. Made WT in Audio Term. Saved as Serum WT. Imported into Falcon. Only imported very last cycle. Added _2048 to end of file name, reimported and worked fine. For the life of me, makes no sense, but it works. WT creation with Audio Term is now a breeze and can't wait to really dive into this.

Thanks for the help on this one guys.

[wasi]

So, i used the voucher and put a few bucks on top and got the FX sound library. Imported into Falcon...
WTF! Awesome!!
The kind of sci-fi-alien-invasion-rythmic-world´s end stuff you can create then! I love it!
The big bummer is only i would like to load those samples easy and fast into the multi-granular OSC f.e.
without those annoying workarounds.

Yeah. Not having access to the files sucks, especially since the libraries are not exactly cheap. I hope they change their minds about this at some point, I can't see myself paying that kind of money (beyond the voucher) if the samples are locked in.

That's what's awesome at FXpansion. Every Geist library gives you a ton of samples to use wherever else you want. Incredible added value.

[Ingonator]

WT creation is odd. Made WT in Audio Term. Saved as Serum WT. Imported into Falcon. Only imported very last cycle. Added _2048 to end of file name, reimported and worked fine. For the life of me, makes no sense, but it works. WT creation with Audio Term is now a breeze and can't wait to really dive into this.

Thanks for the help on this one guys.

The Serum wavetables seem to have a length of 2048 samples for each waveform that's why you need that specific value. In Codex wavetables seem to use 512 samples for each wave so you would have to use that value at the file name.
You could also use 2048 at the end of the file name for the Codex wavetables but the imported wavetable will not be similar to the original one then. You could also use a smaller number like 256 or 128 but the imported result will be again different from the original one.

As the Serum factory wavetables (i checked those from the demo version) seem to import properly without rennaming i guess that with those the waveform length is somehow embedded with the file, maybe at the file header and/or as meta data.

The Codex factory wavetables are a bit hard to find, also as they were saved without a file extension.
The 64 wavetables had names from "1001" up to "1064". After renaming to *.WAV it is possible to use them for importing into e.g. Falcon (after adding "_512" at the end of the file name there.-.) or other synths.

[Cinebient]

So, i used the voucher and put a few bucks on top and got the FX sound library. Imported into Falcon...
WTF! Awesome!!
The kind of sci-fi-alien-invasion-rythmic-world´s end stuff you can create then! I love it!
The big bummer is only i would like to load those samples easy and fast into the multi-granular OSC f.e.
without those annoying workarounds.

Yeah. Not having access to the files sucks, especially since the libraries are not exactly cheap. I hope they change their minds about this at some point, I can't see myself paying that kind of money (beyond the voucher) if the samples are locked in.

That's what's awesome at FXpansion. Every Geist library gives you a ton of samples to use wherever else you want. Incredible added value.

Yep, other tools let you do the same. I often bought expansions not because of the patches itself but because of the new sound sources i get. For me there is no reason to hide them since you simply could turn off all the FX and then record the samples. I just want to use them for my personal musical needs.

[ThomasHelzle]

I still can't decide... (arghh no demo, and an intro offers ending tomorrow!)

if you already have things like Komplete, so Kontakt (sample), ML Aalto (VA/Waveguide), Kaivo (granular/pm), PPG Wave-generator (wavetable), AAS synths (PM), U-he synths (so Diva for VA)
What does Falcon add?

Well, for me it's the complete sound workstation aspect that did it. I'm looking for something like that for quite a while, and most other contenders in that realm don't have a GUI that I personally find a pleasure to work with at the level of complexity we talk about here. Falcon makes complexity quite approachable IMO and I can use it fullscreen.
Add Lua, Surround (hopefully with a manual switch in the VST in the future), the very nice wavetable, pluck, granulars etc.
It does everything I need in a sampler in a more pleasurable way than Kontakt, everything it does sounds good to my ears and by it's overall structure, UVI will be able to add modules over time without having to re-do the GUI every time.
If UVI develops this beast at a steady pace in the future I think they have a winner there.

seems the above has all the 'parts', but is it greater than the sum of the parts? or ease of use? but arguably the above are more focused so better at the one thing they do, no?
its why I tend to use the above rather than the more general synths I have (Alchemy/Zebra)

I loved a lot about Alchemy, was looking forward to version 2 since I had the hope that the GUI would make working with the complexity easier. That did not happen (both because Apple bought it and because the GUI still isn't that much different).
Zebra for me has a similar problem (although there are GUIs that make it easier) and is lacking any form of sample manipulation, which I found out over time is something I like a lot and prefer most of the time over just "normal" oscillators as starting material.

... Im sure many of you are in a similar position, so why did you jump on Falcon?

I don't have Omnisphere, but have been very tempted... so falcon as a similar vane is what sparked my initial interest... I think the attraction is layering sampling with other synthesis methods (though this is possible in Alchemy too)

I don't have Omnisphere either, the screenshots I saw never appealed to me and I'm not really looking for huge sound libraries but want to mostly work with my own creations.

(genre: mainly more downtempo/moody almost ambient stuff, but not really the only thing i do)

a couple of specific questions:
- managing of presets... is this its own format, i.e. not just aupresets etc.

Yes, on many levels you can save presets - the whole multitimbral multi, the individual programs down to each individual wavetable, effect etc.

- its multi-timbral, so does this you mean you can save individual parts, and also all parts as one?

Yes

- I dont have any UVI libraries... do I have to starting buying into these to make good use of Falcon?
I don't really want to start buying into lots of libraries... but concerned it may not have many base samples to work from (for my own presets... unlike Omnisphere which comes with lots

No, I personally don't like most of the UVI libraries and you don't need them at all. Just use any sample, wavetable, IR etc. you want from other libraries or your own recordings. That is actually my main interest in Falcon and IMO it's a plus that it does not come with a terrabyte of samples, but many very usable presets on all levels.

Third parties already start to provide patch libraries specific to Falcon, Simons and PatchAdams offerings both look and sound awesome and I am sure this will pick up pace rapidly if you should feel the need for additional material.

... of course if MPE is going to be supported, this all becomes a 'no-brainer'

Only UVI can comment on that, but I could imagine it happening sooner or later - would fit extremely well with the overall concept.

Cheers,

Tom

[bundoo]

I'm not quite sold on this yet. So it looks like halion and has similar granular capabilities, it has effects and wavetables like synthmaster, omnisphere and serum etc and obviously a bunch layering capabilities

what is new? I'm not being a naysayer just want some hardcore reasons why this isn't just another instrument

[SLiC]

Anyone else having trouble with automation in Studio One 3? It doesn't seem to be automatically picking up the selected control for automation.

[DrumAddict]

So, i used the voucher and put a few bucks on top and got the FX sound library. Imported into Falcon...
WTF! Awesome!!
The kind of sci-fi-alien-invasion-rythmic-world´s end stuff you can create then! I love it!
The big bummer is only i would like to load those samples easy and fast into the multi-granular OSC f.e.
without those annoying workarounds.

Yeah. Not having access to the files sucks, especially since the libraries are not exactly cheap. I hope they change their minds about this at some point, I can't see myself paying that kind of money (beyond the voucher) if the samples are locked in.

That's what's awesome at FXpansion. Every Geist library gives you a ton of samples to use wherever else you want. Incredible added value.

true , but i think its part of the copy protection , if uvi would unlock this there would be no need for there own ufs soundcontainer and ilok activation anymore . and where it would ends up you can imagine yourselves .

[wagtunes]

I'm not quite sold on this yet. So it looks like halion and has similar granular capabilities, it has effects and wavetables like synthmaster, omnisphere and serum etc and obviously a bunch layering capabilities

what is new? I'm not being a naysayer just want some hardcore reasons why this isn't just another instrument

Depends on what you already own. The closest synth I have to this is Omni 2. I don't own Halion or Mach Five or Alchemy or any "complex" synths of this nature other than Omni 2. So for me, this purchase was a no brainer except for the concern that it might not work, there not being a demo.

But if you've already got a bunch of similar synths as far as functionality, then maybe this doesn't offer you much more than what you already have. Only you can answer that. For me, nothing I own beats this for its Swiss Army ability. Omni and maybe Zebra 2 come close but that's about it.

YMMV.

[wagtunes]

Duplicate

[w1awb]

Couldn't agree with you more, Tom. So far it's the best layout and GUI I have seen. It's just really fun to work with and much easier to get around in than anything else I've tried. For me, anyway. I was using Halion 5 and Mach 5 3 and before that, Alchemy for most of my sound design but I like this better. Excited to see how Falcon evolves.

Andy B

I still can't decide... (arghh no demo, and an intro offers ending tomorrow!)

Well, for me it's the complete sound workstation aspect that did it. I'm looking for something like that for quite a while, and most other contenders in that realm don't have a GUI that I personally find a pleasure to work with at the level of complexity we talk about here. Falcon makes complexity quite approachable IMO and I can use it fullscreen.


Tom

[Cinebient]

So, i used the voucher and put a few bucks on top and got the FX sound library. Imported into Falcon...
WTF! Awesome!!
The kind of sci-fi-alien-invasion-rythmic-world´s end stuff you can create then! I love it!
The big bummer is only i would like to load those samples easy and fast into the multi-granular OSC f.e.
without those annoying workarounds.

Yeah. Not having access to the files sucks, especially since the libraries are not exactly cheap. I hope they change their minds about this at some point, I can't see myself paying that kind of money (beyond the voucher) if the samples are locked in.

That's what's awesome at FXpansion. Every Geist library gives you a ton of samples to use wherever else you want. Incredible added value.

true , but i think its part of the copy protection , if uvi would unlock this there would be no need for there own ufs soundcontainer and ilok activation anymore . and where it would ends up you can imagine yourselves .

Mmhh yes, but how i said i still can just record samples if i wanted. So it´s possible to use all these samples when i want. It´s only some steps more. That doesn´t change the copyright.
If i wanted to "pirate" samples (of course i do not) it would not protect it anyway.
I have to accept that but for me there is a no-buy impulse for further libraries this way. I would rather buy special sample libraries somewhere else and import them into Falcon then.

[PatchAdamz]

Third parties already start to provide patch libraries specific to Falcon, Simons and PatchAdams offerings both look and sound awesome......

AND just in case these were missed, 2 more examples:

https://soundcloud.com/vintage-synth-pa ... moon-dance

https://soundcloud.com/vintage-synth-pa ... -the-tower

[Ingonator]

I'm not quite sold on this yet. So it looks like halion and has similar granular capabilities, it has effects and wavetables like synthmaster, omnisphere and serum etc and obviously a bunch layering capabilities

what is new? I'm not being a naysayer just want some hardcore reasons why this isn't just another instrument

While Falcon could do some interesting stuff with samples (including granular stuff) you could do tons of patches with it without actually using any samples (as long as you do not see wavetables and single cycle waveforms as samples...). The synth options in this are very versatile.
While you could import custom wavetables from WAV files (wavetables from e.g. Serum, Codex or Audio Term) Falcon alraedy includes a lot of wavetables and single cycles to play with.

The wavetable Osc also has 2 additional phase distortion parameters (amount and mode/shape) to combine single waveforms or wavetables with phase distortion. The PD amount knob could be modulated.

Besides the Wavetable Osc there are the Analog, Analog Stack, FM, Organ, Pluck (= physical modeling), Noise and Drum Oscs that do not need any custom waveforms or wavetables (while the Pluck oscillator could use samples additionally to the physical modeling synth). The analog stack osc could be also used to do simple additive sounds (when all stacked oscs are set to a Sine wave).
Yo could even add envelopes to all 8 stacked oscs to modulate the volume of each of the oscillators to do more compex additive like stuff.

As Falcon is modular you could for example build your own synth with 4 wavetable oscillators, a Multi Stage envelope for each of the 4 wavetable Oscs, a dual multimode filter (or other filter combinations including "exotic" filters), some effects etc.

The default patch/Multi does not include any modules. Before you could start adding modules you have to create a new Program (in Part 1), a new Layer and a new Keygropup in that Layer. Each new Keygroup automaticlly adds an Analog Osc and an ADSR Amp envelope but you could delete and replace those if needed.
For example you could use a multi envelope for the volume when assigning a new envelope to the gain knob (either for the Gain of a single oscillator, the keygroup or the whole program).